1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a meter reading system for use in periodical reading of meters for power, gas, water, etc. placed at a house of each user.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, in periodically reading a power meter, gas meter, water meter and the like placed at individual users' houses, such as homes and factories, a person who reads these meters (hereinafter simply referred to as meterman) generally goes round to individual users' houses door to door to obtain a present reading on a meter at each house with his own eyes. The meterman then records the reading on a note or multiple recording slips having a plurality of copyable sheets; a previous reading for each user is prerecorded on the multiple recording slips. The meterman subtracts the previous reading from the present one to obtain the present amount used and enters the value on the slips. The meterman then detaches one of the slips on which both the present reading and the present amount used are recorded, and leaves the slip at the user's house or hands it to the user. The slip is a reference for a rate which should be paid via a bank, a post office, or the like, or will be automatically deducted from a bank account.
The meterman brings the remaining slips also having the present reading recorded back to his office in a power company, gas company or the like. The meterman or another operator in this office enters the present reading in a host computer using a terminal such as a keyboard.
As is obvious from the above, it is necessary for a meterman to acquire a present reading on a meter placed at the house of each user, record it on a slip or note, then enter the recorded present reading in the host computer through a keyboard. That is, the same data is read twice by the same person or different persons at different places. This inevitably reduces the efficiency of the overall meter reading work.
As a solution to this shortcoming, there has been proposed a meter reading system according to which an output terminal for outputting a reading is mounted to each meter, and a meterman carries a data input terminal unit having an input terminal adapted to be coupled to the output terminal and connects the unit to the meter to automatically obtain a reading.
According to such a meter reading system, however, meters set at the houses of individual users should be modified, which requires a vast amount of investment in equipment and a great amount of labors in replacing the existing meters with the modified ones. Further, meter reading data as well as a user number to specify this data need be input to the aforementioned data input terminal unit, and the user number should be manually input through a keyboard by a meterman.